On September 26, 2012 Kyiv hosted the First Business Forum dedicated to "The secrets of success and strategy in the automotive market of Ukraine and CIS countries in 2012-2016.” The event was designed to serve as a platform for exchanging experts' predictions regarding the automobile market in Ukraine, automotive marketing and interaction with car-buyers.

Attorney with Vasil Kisil & Partners Vladyslav Podolyak shared the experience accumulated by the firm in protecting companies in air bag-related cases, the topic of his presentation being "The disputes with consumers under the code name “the airbag case”, which led to intense debate among the automotive companies.

The so-called "airbag cases" are legal actions brought by consumers, the car owners against the manufacturer, importer or seller based on the claim that the airbag had not opened during an accident even though, according to the plaintiff, the airbags should have opened on such strong impact and protected passengers from injury. Consumers blame airbags defectiveness as the only reason for their failure to open. Amount of the claimed compensation sometimes reach six figure numbers. Any "airbag case" can lead to serious reputational risks for famous car brands.

"Handling an “airbag case” is a complex project, which requires far more that the lawyer relying on his own knowledge of civil process; it calls for understanding and taking into account the specifics of the case from a technical point of view. Only such an approach will help avoid strategic mistakes and superficial legal arguments that may lead to an ill-founded ruling," said Vladyslav Podolyak.